Halo: The Great Schism
by Chief Drallig
Summary: Set in the Halo Universe, this is more of a FanFact, than fiction, as all that happens here are as scripted in the game, but with some slight artistic licence to it. Basically, for everyone above 15, as per the age rating of the games, and can be read by anyone, including those without the games.
1. The Heretic

**The Heretic**

Thel 'Vadamee, Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice, was silent. He was fearless, yet terrified. He had narrowly escaped the destruction of the Sacred Ring at the hands of the Demon, the 'Master Chief', and had now been summoned to the Holy City, High Charity, to declare his 'misconduct' at the Holy Ring. He did not know what the Demon would do. Yes, his primary concern would have been that human, but with the Flood outbreak, he did not have the chance to strike at it. As his CAS Class Assault Cruiser drew ever closer to High Charity, weaving slowly between the wreckage of destroyed battlecruisers, and in the shadow of the burning Ring, he once again marvelled at the immense size of the Holy City, but his thoughts were interrupted once again by the agony of facing the Hierarchs. He knew that their wrath would be great, and the punishment, should one be enforced by the Council, would be severe.

He entered into the Holy City, and was immediately asked to present himself to Councillors in the Council Chamber. Where ever he looked, others looked warily, knowing that Thel was in the utmost of trouble, but the Jiralhanae, the Brutes, knew but to laugh at his 'errors'. He growled fiercely, but that only brought more humiliation, and walked on, yet again, in silence until he reached the Council. Upon arrival, he gave his finger as required, testing the blood to make sure it was indeed Thel 'Vadamee, then made sure no weapons were on his person, and walked into the centre of the room and onto the raised dais.

He waited. The Prophets loved to do this, to show others that they had power, not those who sought an audience. He noticed in the corner the Jiralhanae Chieftain, Tartarus, watching also, smirking. Thel's blood boiled. Why were those fouls brutes even admitted to be in the presence of the Hierarchs? He stopped in front of the three High Prophets: Truth, Mercy and Regret, although the last was absent, appearing as a hologram, filling his space. Eventually, the High Prophet of Truth spoke. 'Tell us your version of events, and why you were unable to stop the humans from desecrating the Holy Ring?'

Already noting that they all thought it was his fault, he recounted the events, the discovery of Halo, the initial attack, then the Flood outbreak, then finally the destruction of the Sacred Ring. Throughout his soliloquy, no one spoke, though it seemed also that few believed him. Once finished, again, he waited, until Truth spoke, saying, 'Once more, the beginning…'

Thel said 'There was only one ship…'

'One? Are you sure?' the High Prophet of Regret interrupted him

'Yes. They called it…The Pillar of Autumn.

The High Prophet of Mercy shouted furiously 'Why was it not destroyed with the rest of their fleet?'

As calmly as he could, Thel replied 'It fled as we set fire to their planet, but I followed with all the ships in my command.' There was a pause, and then Regret said 'When you first saw Halo, were you blinded by its majesty'

'Blinded?' Thel did not quite understand.

'Paralysed? Dumbstruck?

'No!' That he was certain of. He knew he should have been able to stop them, and as if reading his mind, Regret continued. 'Yet the Humans were able to evade your ships, land on the Sacred Ring, and desecrate it with their filthy footsteps!' Thel could begin to see where this conversation was going, and tried once more to sway them to see his point of view 'Noble Hierarchs, surely you understand that once the parasite attacked…' but he got no further, as he was soon drowned out by angry shouts from the galleries either side of him. Thel heard one distinct word, 'Traitor' thrown out at him. At the side, Tartarus continued to watch in amusement.

Discontented with the sudden outbreak of angry shouts, Mercy says 'There will be order in this council!'

Truth, as calm as ever, spoke and said' You were right to focus your intention on the Flood, but this Demon, this 'Master Chief'…'

'By the time I learned of the Demon's intent…' Thel, vividly remembering the detonation of their ship, destroying Halo, paused, and quietly uttered, 'There was nothing I could do.'

But the council were indignant, and wanted this over, as did the Prophet of Regret, who said quietly to Truth 'Noble Prophet of Truth, this has gone on long enough. Make an example of this bungler! The council demands it!'

Thel thought so much and was embarrassed, but they were not finished yet. 'You are one of our most treasured intruments.' Truth began, 'Long have you led your fleet with honour and distinction. But your inability to safeguard Halo, was a colossal failure…'

A Council member, the Prophet of Obligation shouted 'Nay, it was heresy!' which got shouts of approval, and Thel, angered by all of this, said firmly 'I _will_ continue my campaign against the humans!'

'No! You will not!' Truth said, signalling for Tartarus to send him away. Thel then knew that this decision had been reached long before his arrival at High Charity. Tartarus called on two others in his pack, who attempted to seize Thel and escort him out, but were shaken off. He did not resist arrest, and turned back down the corridor. Truth, loudly so all could see, said, 'Soon the Great Journey shall begin, but when it does, the weight of your heresy will stay your feet… and you shall be left behind.' And with this, he left under the custody of the Covenant he'd served so long.

Hours later, still in custody, Thel 'Vadam, not 'Vadamee, as he would be denounced by his house, and called a heretic, walked through the open doors, into the middle of all the open walkway, past Kig Yar and Unggoy. He was jeered at the entire time, as in these hours, he heresy had been announced across the entire city, and many invited to watch his punishment. Some of the Unggoy, with one united voice chanted repeatedly 'He-re-tic! He-re-tic!' Thel, angry at them, but knowing he could do nothing, walked past in silence. He stopped, and was in full view of thousands, tiers upon tiers of Covenant species who had come to watch the 'spectacle'. His brute escort then put him into wrist restraints while Tartarus looked around at the congregation gathered before him. Then he turned and said to Thel, with complete indifference, 'You've drawn quite a crowd.'

'If they came to hear me beg, they will be disappointed.' Thel replied calmly, even in the face of utter humiliation.

'Are you sure…' Tartarus mocked, as the restraints charged, then released the electrical energy through the former Supreme Commander and blackening his bright golden yellow armour. At first he tried to resist the pain, but is unable to, howling. Once his armour had smouldered, Tartarus stopped the electrocution, turned and said to the crowd 'There can be no greater heresy!' Tartarus pointed at Thel. 'Let him be an example for all who would break our Covenant!' With this, the two brutes who had escorted him and guarded him ripped off him armour, leaving Thel chained in thin air, naked in front of everyone. He felt utterly devoid of honour, and almost wished that they could just kill him now, and save him the torture. From the floor, however, a brand rose, glowing orange at the tip, and highlighting Tartarus' face in an evil grin. The brand was the mark of a heretic. Tartarus paused, the firmly pressed it into his chest, searing the skin and flesh. Again, Thel tried to resist the pain, but it was useless, and let out a howl of agony. When Tartarus had finished, the restraints were removed, and, hiding himself, Thel 'Vadam, formerly the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice, was lead away to the cells to await his execution.


	2. Cairo Station

**Cairo Station**

In orbit around Earth, guarded by several UNSC frigates, and many orbital Magnetic Accelerator Cannons (MACs), the Master Chief looked out, waiting to be debriefed by the techie, Master Sergeant Gunns. Having previously come back from Installation 04, and the assault, with the help of the rest of his Spartans, on the _Unyielding Hierophant_ , he had had no contact with any of his team, and probably, he thought, would never see them again. Behind him, Gunns had come into the room, and had begun to examine the equipment, which was mostly broken, strewn across the table surface. 'The plating was about to fail, there's viscosity throughout the gel layer…' Gunns paused, and dropped something else, equally as broken on the table, 'Optics? Totally fried. And let's not even talk about the power supply.' He looked up at John. 'You know how expensive this gear is son?' he said critically. John picked up his helmet, locked it securely, and said plainly, 'Tell that to the Covenant.'

'Well, I guess it was all obsolete anyway. Your new suit's a Mark VI, just came up from Songnim this morning, try and take it easy till you get used to the upgrades.' John ran through the diagnostics of the new armour, the targeting, movement, and the energy shields, which he noticed recharged much faster than his previous suit. John noticed the lift doors open, and smiled, though no one could see it. Gunns however had not noticed Johnson enter, and carried on speaking. 'If your shields go down, find some cover, and wait for the meter to read fully charged...'

'…Or he can hide behind me.' Johnson said, surprising the Master Sergeant 'You done with my boy here, Master Gunns? (I don't see any training wheels.)'

'His armour's working fine, Johnson.' Gunns then turned to John, 'You're free to go son, just remember; take things slow.' Johnson and his gung-ho attitude then got the better of him, again. 'Don't worry, I'll hold his hand.' The Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson walked on to the elevator, when Gunns remembers something, and says 'So Johnson, when you gonna tell me how you made it back home in one piece?'

'Sorry, Gunns, it's classified.' Obviously, the ONI spooks had got to him first, Gunns thought, but John remembered that small crystal detailing everything about how Johnson had survived, and how he had destroyed it, saving the Sergeants life from ONI.

'Huh! My ass!' The doors began to close and the elevator also began to rise, and Gunns' voice faded, but still audible 'Well, you can forget about those adjustments to your A2 scope!' he shouted up at them his voice fading away, until those last words were almost incomprehensible. Johnson chuckled, and said 'Well, he's in a particularly fine mood! Maybe Lord Hood didn't give him an invitation.'

The elevator stopped and Earth came into view; the blue orb seemingly stationary as the _Cairo_ held perfect orbit above the city of that same name. 'Earth. Haven't seen it in years.' Johnson said warmly, and with hopeful intent to return when the fighting eventually ended, and the Covenant no longer a threat. But that was just a hope, knowing that Humanity was being starved from the stars, slowly and inexorably being eradicated from planet after planet. They stepped out, and walked onto the tram car waiting in front of them. Johnson, almost musing to himself, said 'When I shipped out for Basic, the orbital defence grid was all theory and politics. Now look! The _Cairo_ is just of three hundred geosync platforms. That MAC gun can put a round clean through a Covenant capital ship. With co-ordinated fire from the _Athens_ and _Malta_ , nothing's getting past this battle cluster in one piece.' He stopped to think and breathe. 'Ships have been arriving all morning. Nobody's saying much, but I'll bet something big is about to happen.' John knew all right, remembering once more the attack force he'd seen at Reach and the battle on the _Unyielding Hierophant_ , and knowing their attack plans what he had delayed by several weeks, but at the cost of many good soldiers, 'Survivors' John thought. 'Survivors of Halo.'

The tram stopped, and opened out to a crowd of Marines all cheering, and camera drones filming them as they walked out through the mass. 'John said quietly to Johnson 'You told me there weren't going to be any cameras…'

'You told me you were gonna wear something nice!' Johnson said. 'Folks need heroes, Chief. To give 'em hope.' He paused to smooth his hair. 'So smile, would ya? While we've still got something to smile about.' The doors opened, to reveal more jubilant faces, and the Master Chief and Sergeant Major Johnson walked up to the front of the Bridge, where Lord Hood was waiting for them.

The Master Chief and Johnson snapped to attention. Lord Hood did likewise, and spoke. 'Gentlemen, we're lucky to have you back.' An officer nearby turned to Lord Hood, and whispered something in his ear. Lord Hood nodded. 'Go ahead, Cortana.'

Cortana said to him 'Another whisper, Sir, near Io. We have probes en route.' Lord Hood turned to the others 'I apologise, but we're going to have to make this quick' Cortana now looked up and saw Johnson and the Master Chief, and said to John 'You look nice.'John and Johnson said 'Thanks' and 'Thank you' simultaneously, then looked at each other in confusion.

Lord Hood addressed the assembled, 'Sergeant Major, the Colonial Cross is awarded for acts of singular daring and devotion, for a soldier of the United Earth Space Corps'. Lord Hood pinned the medal to Johnson's pristine uniform. Then, a young woman, one that john thought he should recognise, steps up, turns and snaps to attention. Lord Hood presented her with a box with a medal inside and said 'Commander Miranda Keyes. Your father's actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service. His bravery in the face of impossible odds reflects great credit, upon himself, and the UNSC. The Navy has lost one of its best.' She held back her grief and tears, and took the posthumous gift. John now could clearly see the similarities between herself and her father, Captain Jacob Keyes, one of the best damn Captains in the entire UNSC.

A klaxon sounded all over the station, and Cortana, with priority, said 'Slipspace ruptures, directly off our battle cluster.'

'Show me.' Lord Hood demanded. A holographic image displayed the locations of the Covenant fleet, and the locations of his fleet, along with their trajectories. 'Fifteen Covenant capital ships, holding position just outside the kill zone.' On the image, some of the blue markers began to move towards the stationary ships. 'This is Fleet Admiral Harper, we are engaging the enemy.' came over the radio, but was quickly negated by Lord Hood. 'Negative, Admiral. Form a defensive perimeter around the battle cluster.' He turned to Commander Keyes 'Commander, get to your ship, link up with the fleet.'

'Yes, Sir.' She turned and left for her ship, _In Amber Clad_. Lord Hood said, 'You have the MAC gun, Cortana. As soon as they come in range, open up.'

'Gladly' she replied. Lord Hood studied the display, and said 'Something's not right. The fleet that destroyed Reach was fifty times this size.' One of the bridge officers said 'Sir, additional contacts! Boarding craft, and lots of 'em.'

Lord Hood saw through the plan immediately, but not the whole means to defend each station. 'They're going to try and take our MAC guns offline, give their capital ships a straight shot at Earth. Master Chief, Defend this station!'

'Yes, Sir.' He turned to Johnson. 'I need a weapon.'

'Right this way.' They turned and left for the armoury. Lord Hood turned back to his command station, and above them all, the Longswords flew by, followed by a huge frigate, preparing to attack.


	3. Home Field Advantage

**Priority Shift**

Sergeant Johnson led the Master Chief to the armoury, where other soldiers prepared themselves and waited. John picked up a Battle Rifle, for burst-fire precision and relatively high damage per group, good for draining one of those Elites' shields and getting a headshot once they were down, and a SMG, for 'crowd control', useful if he could find another to dual wield but also good as just one, for throwing some grenades into those crowds of Grunts or behind a Jackals' persona shield. Johnson had found himself a Machine Gun Turret. The doors opened, and on the loudspeakers, John heard 'This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill.' Johnson was in contact with the one of the two other geosync platforms, the _Malta_ , and asked them 'How's it going, _Malta_?'

'Standby…they're latched! Check your targets, watch the crossfire. They're in standard formation, little bastards up front, big ones in back. Good luck _Cairo_.' From this, John deduced he would see few, if any of the Jackals, noting the lack of their presence in _Malta_ 's report. They heard an explosion of some kind ringing out from behind the locked door. Then silence. 'Field of fire on that bulkhead' Johnson said. The centre of the door started to melt, and movement heard behind it. 'As soon as that door opens, let 'em have it!'

The door grew brighter and brighter, then exploded outwards, throwing shrapnel far and wide. Thanks to his cover, John thought as he fired through the fire and smoke towards the green and blue lights of plasma cascading through the entrance. He sprayed SMG fire at the Grunts, mowing them down, while Johnson on the machine gun tried to take on as many Elites as possible, quickly removing their shields, and exposing them to the full force of 7.62 mm rounds. They weren't alive much longer, and the wall behind where they stood was now painted with purple blood. Wave two arrived before John could reload, and plasma fire splashed across his shields. A grenade soared past him, and landed near to a cluster plasma grenades dropped by a dead Grunt, which exploded, and set off a chain reaction. Under this confusion, one of the Marines fell to heavy plasma rifle fire. These Elites soon took cover, as Johnson yet again opened fire on them. John noticed another plasma grenade nearby, ran across cover to pick it up, drawing some fire from the few remaining Grunts, but his shields unhurt. Upon entering his new cover, he arced the grenade he'd picked up over the barricade where the Elite was hiding, and the Elite dove away from the explosion, into full view of everyone. lit him up and John piled an entire magazine at it, collapsing the shields under the intense fire, and fell. The few remaining Grunts, now completely disorganised and demoralised, ran away from the Marines, but were quickly subdued. John discarded his SMG, and replaced it with one of the Grunts plasma pistols, which he would use to overcharge and collapse the Elites shields, making them just a vulnerable as everyone else. Two more Elites jumped down from the balcony above, and fired towards Johnson's position. He abandoned the machine gun as the protective plating began to fail. One young Marine decided to flank the Elites, which drew their fire, enabling the other marine, Johnson and himself to kill the nearest one, but then the second fired at the young Marine before he could achieve anything else, and was killed instantly. John came up behind the Elite, which now had his back turned thanks to the Marine, and backstabbed his alien foe, ending its life. Reinforcements arrived, to allow them to push onto the next section, and John signalled the troops to head on out once more.

The Marines, John and the Sergeant headed out towards the fire in the corridor to where they'd managed to corner another boarding party. This party were oblivious to the new wave of troops to their right, as they were focusing on yet another turret blocking the stairs. They all opened fire at once, annihilating all the Grunts, and completely surprising all three Elites. John charged up his plasma pistol, released it, and the blob of superhot, molten plasma chased the nearest Elite, hit, and collapsed the shield. The Elite stumbled from the attack, and was very quickly eliminated, leaving the Elite to lie motionless amid the other alien corpses. Meanwhile, the turret in the stairwell had killed one Elite from the sheer number of projectiles, and was now focused on the last. With the turret and four guns all blazing at it, he didn't stand a chance.

The defence co-ordinator piped up again, saying, 'Boarders in Habitat Alpha!' As there were boarders everywhere, it would be chaotic for several hours, assuming, of course, that they were still alive after that space of time. The loudspeakers blared again. 'I need a squad in habitat alpha ASAP!' John headed up the stairs and turned left. There he found the relatively open space. He noticed a tough red-armoured Elite so was lucky to still have his plasma pistol, but it did not have much charge left, and there were none nearby either. It was a one shot deal. He charged and fired, dissipating the shields. John discarded the weapon and switched to Battle Rifle, and killed the red elite with a single burst to the head. With the Grunts now shooting at him, his shields drained quickly to the fire from them As he took cover by jumping off the exposed, raised ledge he was on and let shields recharge. There were already two marines pinned in this room, so were glad the SPARTAN had arrived. With this newfound courage in the soldiers, they dispatched all the boarders with relative ease. The Grunts exposed in front were mown down. Behind him, the opposite door opened. John didn't notice at first, but when the plasma fire rained upon him, he realised something wasn't right, and that he did not have reinforcements. They did though.

As the plasma melted away the walls and other objects, John quickly ran for cover, just as an enemy grenade landed right where he had been stood, and exploded, melting the entire area. He charged the pistol, aimed it at the Elite and fired. The Elite snarled, and the plasma bolt exploded in front of it. His shields hadn't taken the hit though. A Grunt in the wrong place at the wrong time now lay dead with its entrails leaking, and methane pouring out of its canister. This was not good. He now was in one-on-one combat with an equal opponent, but who had much better firepower and strength. John had noticed his salvation though. He threw a grenade to distract the Elite, and it jumped away from the dead Grunt. The grenade exploded, and there was no more dead Grunt, but its plasma pistol that it had hardly used flew across the room towards John. He grabbed it, and chanced a look at the charge. It read '93%', which was excellent. He charged it, then ran out of cover towards the Elite. It looked surprised, and took the plasma to the face. It roared in anger, and tried to shoot John down, but he rammed the Elite into the wall causing it to drop the weapon. He drew his Battle Rifle, shoved the barrel in between its mandibles and fired.

After the biology practical, he stopped to breathe, reload and recover, but only briefly, as Lord Hood came on the radio. 'Find the boarders' point of entry, Chief. Cut them off at the source.' He acknowledged, then headed up yet another stairwell. As he came to the top, thick red blood oozed out of another fallen marine, and John almost missed the Battle Rifle underneath the soldier. He collected some more ammunition, and headed through the door on the right this time, to where a Covenant boarding vessel had breached the windows overlooking Earth, and the two other defence stations. He was above the Covenant this time, but they were fighting other friendlies. They were putting up good resistance against the Covenant forces, who like John had control of the higher field of fire, but more troops kept on flooding in. John threw a frag into the crowd of Grunts, who scattered away like frightened dogs. The frag went off, putting the Grunts into a state of mass panic, running anywhere and everywhere, getting in the Elites' ways. John took the advantage to cut down any stray Grunts, and then to focus on the distracted Elites, who fell under the continuous fire from two different angles. Like lemmings off a cliff, more troops came through the boarding craft, and most of the marines were now dead above them. After a short skirmish, where the Grunts just died and did nothing, and the Elites, still with their motif 'never retreat, fight to the death' (as it seemed to most UNSC soldiers), they reverted to this, and shortly fell to focused fire. Nothing was getting past John today.

As the final wave from the boarding craft died, one of the survivors noticed something outside the station. He said 'Hey, check it out! _Malta_ 's already driven off its boarders.' Cortana radioed them. ' _Malta_ , what is your status, over?'

'I don't believe it!' came the response. 'They're retreating, we won!' John wasn't so sure though, and this was confirmed moments later. He could see small explosions coming from the platform, then the whole station was engulfed in a fireball, sending wreckage in all directions. 'This is bad, real bad!'

While they were still comprehending the disaster that had just happened, one of the doors behind the Pelican in the room burst open, and more enemies flooded the docking bay. The remaining soldiers were caught off guard, and fell to the sudden onslaught. John ducked and rolled, and knew he was outnumbered. This was what he was trained for, as a SPARTAN. He cut away the Grunts, and confused the Elites with his movements, making him seem like three or four soldiers, instead of only one. By cause of this confusion, John was able to slip a fragmentation grenade past them without them noticing, and all the Elites fell as one. Silence dawned on him, and he looked once more at the wreckage of _Malta_. He then headed through his newly opened door. He thought 'I still have station to defend.'

He came to another docking bay, but this one had already been overrun, and not the roles were reversed. He quickly dealt with the Grunts on the turrets, before they could do any more damage than they had already, then concentrated on the next boarders and boarding craft. After a longer battle, they were all dead, and the now another Marine stopped to breathe, but another soldier realised something crucial. 'Uh oh. Hey, they're leaving the _Athens_ …' Sure enough, just as _Malta_ did, _Athens_ exploded. Lord Hood radioed in 'Cortana, assessment!'

'That explosion came from inside the _Athens_.' She said, as cool as ever. 'Same as the _Malta_. The Covenant must have brought something with them. A bomb.'

'Then they sure as hell brought one here. Chief…find it.'


End file.
